Optical devices, including light sources, are widely used in many forms of technology. For example, such optical devices may be used in information transmission, display applications, medical procedures, and a wide variety of other applications. Optical sources used in these and other applications include, for example, lasers, laser diodes, arc lamps, light emitting diodes (“LEDs”), incandescent light bulbs, etc
In order to more effectively apply optical devices to current technology, it is sometimes desired to increase the brightness of an optical source. Due to physical limitations, optical devices may lack the intensity needed for a specific application or to meet various performance standards. In such cases, light from multiple optical sources may be used to achieve the total brightness needed. However, it has been difficult to uniformly blend the light from multiple sources to result in a uniform light beam suitable to a particular application.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.